23 April 2009

Q1 2009

The Management Board of Teleplan International N.V. is pleased to present their outstanding first quarter 2009 results. Teleplan improved profitability significantly on all levels compared to last year’s first quarter.

- Increase in operating profit (EBIT) of 34% to 6.6 million Euro

- Net profit increase of 29% to 2.8 million Euro in the first quarter 2009 

“Cost saving measures in addition to lower headcount have begun to bear fruits”, Gotthard Haug , CEO of Teleplan International N.V., explained the benefits the Group harvested in the first three months 2009. Despite a challenging environment, the top line remained stable with revenue of 74.6 million Euro (76.8 million Euro Q1/2009). Costs of raw materials and consumables decreased by 2.5 million Euro. Gross margin increased for the first quarter 2009 to 60.5% compared to last year’s figure of 58.4% benefitting from the change in the service mix of the Group. Foreign exchange rate effects had a 4.2 million Euro positive impact on revenue and reduced the operating costs by approximately 1.4 million Euro.

The small revenue decline in the period under review was related to the Computer and Consumer Electronics segment. All of the three segments contributed to the overall higher profit margin in a year-on-year comparison although there is further work to do for the Computer segment to improve the margins. Within the Communication segment the product groups Mobile and Networking Services acted as drivers of the top line growth in the first quarter 2009 compared to 2008.

Increased efficiency of the site portfolio in Europe and North America and the continuing shift from high to low cost countries as well as strict cost management resulted in an increased profitability. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) therefore increased by 27.3% to 7.8 million Euro in the first quarter 2009. Accordingly the EBITDA margin reached 10.5% versus 8.0% in the prior year.

The unchanged amount of 1.2 million Euro for depreciation and amortization lifted operating income (EBIT) by 34.1% for the first quarter 2009 to 6.6 million Euro, resulting in an EBIT margin of 8.9%, well above last year (6.5%).

Net income for the first three months 2009 climbed by 29.2% to 2.8 million Euro versus
2.2 million Euro in the same period 2008 despite a 1.1 million Euro increase of financial charges mainly caused by currency results. Accordingly, earnings per share (EPS) increased to 0.05 Euro in the first quarter of the year (0.04 Euro the year before).  

Despite a decrease in inventories of 1.4 million Euro cash generated from operations was down 2.9 million due to an increase in receivables and other movements in working capital. This increase is mainly the result of a one-off event expected to reverse in the second quarter of 2009. Cash and cash equivalents rose by 2.5 million Euro to 18.2 million Euro at the end of March 2009. A contractual amortization of bank loans of 1.0 million Euro further reduced net debt to 42.8 million Euro.

Total assets at 31 March 2009 increased to 158.6 million Euro from 147.7 million Euro at
31 December 2008. Equity increased to 36.9 million Euro compared to 31.8 million Euro at year end 2008 due to increased profits in the first quarter 2009 and currency translations. Therefore the Group’s equity ratio increased to 23.3% compared to the 21.5% at 31 December 2008.

In general the outsourcing trend within the after-sales service industry is showing a healthy development. While the first half of 2009 is expected to show positive developments in cash flow and bottom line, the visibility has been reduced significantly in light of the uncertainty over how trends will shape up. Based on reasonable revenue stability the Management Board of Teleplan aims to implement further profitability improvement measures, reduce debt by optimizing the cash flow and improve the balance sheet. “Continuous improvement of operating costs planned for the coming quarters supports our cautiously optimistic view for the remainder of the year”, Gotthard Haug described t he tasks for Teleplan’s management in 2009.   

Download the complete Press Release Q1 2009